A peahens egg looks like this

Yes it is the one on the left. I was hoping for speckles or at  least something a little  distinctive but no they look just like a chickens egg though they are much bigger and even a bit pointier at the end.  Too big to fit in this boys mouth. He has been going under the nickname of The Savage lately. He loves eggs.

His favourite game is to run full tilt at me and then launch himself up into my arms, so far it is a little gangly but I think we can perfect it. But only on command! And no, butter would not melt in his mouth. It wouldn’t have Time! Look at that bad boy face. When we are not playing the game he just head buts me which he is very quickly learning is not appropriate. What is funny in a pup will not be funny from a dog.  Here he is practicing sitting and staying – with bad grace I might add.  He is learning as fast as I can teach him and needs a very firm hand. But he is the cuddliest dog I have ever had and sticks very close.

In all I found four peahens eggs. Two were in a chickens nest in the Peacock Penthouse  with other chickens eggs. Two were on the floor by the door as I told you yesterday.  The wee chook who lay the other eggs in the Peacock Penthouse is sitting on hers, I wonder if the extra large bump in there bothers her.

And here is one of our surrogate mothers.  She is an old chook called Giraffe. She is a very sweet old thing.

I also have a cockoo marran who is broody. So last night I went out in the dark and transferred the cuckoo and  two ordinary eggs into Fort Knox (sorry Peghorn Leghorns time to grow up and roost like big chooks). When she is settled in there I shall add the peahens eggs. Giraffe is minding them until then. Giraffe is one of my original girls and an excellent broody chicken but old now.  We will meet the fat Cuckoo Marran tomorrow. So I will have four eggs under two hens.  How about THAT for not having all my eggs in one basket!  The peahens settled themselves back with Kupa last night in the rafters and so far have been very good about not eating gardens so they are free in the hopes of them sorting out this nesting business.  But maybe they abandoned the eggs because they were infertile we will see.  The incubation period for a peacock egg is 28 – 30 days so we will know by the end of June.

Below is a shot of our raging creek yesterday.  It will be higher today. Last night we had two more massive storms accompanied by tornado alerts.  No tornado here but again the rain and wind hurled itself at us. The lightening flashed like nightmarish disco lights, so bright that I could see it with my eyes closed and had stars in my eyes when it was over. Thunder roared  like hell’s door was swinging open and slamming back in the gale.

The rain gauge says another inch of rain was had. But I think we got off lightly.  It goes without saying that the basement is flooded again.

Yesterday I called the man at a very strange store that sells bull semen. And we had a curious discussion. I told him I wanted the semen from a Hereford bull who had short legs and a good solid frame but a bit smaller than these massive beasts we see in the catalogs. Oh, he said, so you want a short dumpy bull.  I laughed. Well, I don’t have one of those,  those are hard to find, they don’t breed them like that anymore. The closest he said is a bull called True Grit. Well,  I said,  I quite liked that movie. We will have him then. Thirty dollars a straw said the man.

So the Breeder will take her tank of liquid nitrogen and collect two little straws of hopefulness this week and the Lady Vet will be breeding Queenie at the same time as Daisy on Sunday.

The breeder is still looking for someone special in a straw for Daisy.

Good morning. It has dawned calm and cloudy this morning. I need to get out there and see how everything fared in the storms.  What wild weather.

Have a lovely day.

your stormy friend, celi